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<p>This is totally false, and I’ll tell you why. A committee of MIT professors chooses who gets admitted, not some social engineering committee like undergrad. They have real skin in the game. These are the students who will conduct research for THEM. Often admissions comes with financial support but they are taking risks by admitting unknowns. For MIT undergraduates, they are a complete known. If a professor knows you because you did research for him, sees the potential in you and really wants you in, they get you in. My entire application to graduate school from MIT to MIT was a Statement of Objectives and recommendations. My department already had everything else they needed to know. A significant fraction of graduate students were undergraduates at MIT. </p>
<p>Also Houstonmom, I think that GeekMom63 summed it up perfectly. I’m not sure exactly what you meant by balance - it means different things to different people. I would ask questions like - do they teach to the top of the class or the middle? - which you can calibrate looking at SAT Math scores. You can ask students whether they are enjoying the school. You can ask if they have time to digest what they learn, or are they being firehosed. There really is a spectrum.</p>